Malik maintained that action will be taken against all groups involved in terrorist activities.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chinese Vice Premier said his country acknowledged the sacrifices made by Pakistan in the war on terror.

He also asserted that China will always stand by its neighbour in difficult times.

Pakistan turns to China as ties with US suffer

Pakistan, facing a crisis in relations with the United States, appears to be seeking more support from powerful ally China.

Pakistani officials have been heaping praise on China since its public security minister arrived here on Monday for high-level talks as Washington piles pressure on Islamabad to cut ties with a militant group blamed for attacks on US targets.

“We are true friends and we count on each other,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said after talks with Meng on Tuesday.

Prime Minister thanked China for a categorical statement extending support to Pakistan when it needs the most.

“We will co-operate with you to the extent you want us to co-operate,” assured Gilani.

He added the two countries together can progress and prosper and bring the dividends of development to their people.

Meng said relations between the two countries have been nurtured through generations and expressed the resolve to follow the legacy.

“Thank you once again for (the) supportive statement in favour of Pakistan’s sovereignty and integrity.”

Washington accuses Pakistan’s powerful ISI spy agency of directly backing the Afghan Taliban-allied Haqqani network and of providing support for the Sept 13 attack on the US Kabul mission.

Pakistan furiously rejected the allegations and warned the United States that it risked losing an ally if it kept publicly criticising Pakistan over the militant groups.

Making the point that Pakistan has other friends, President Asif Ali Zardari said in a statement: “In these peculiar circumstances when the country was grappling with many challenges simultaneously, Chinese assistance has been most welcome in stabilising the situation.”

The military, Pakistan’s most powerful institution, also said it appreciated its giant Asian neighbour’s support. Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani thanked Meng for China’s “unwavering support”.

Meng termed his meeting with the President and the military leadership as “very meaningful and productive”

He said Pakistan was the only country enjoying all-weather friendship with China.

China and Pakistan call each other “all-weather friends” and their close ties have been underpinned by long-standing wariness of their common neighbour, India, and a desire to hedge against US influence across the region.

Pakistan is now turning to China again as it engages in the harshest war of words with Washington since it joined the US “War on Terror” after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks.

Clinton urges Beijing to open dialogue with Washington on Pakistan

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Pakistan has made “important contributions in the international fight against terrorism”.

“China understands and supports Pakistan’s formulating and implementing its counter terrorism strategy based on its national conditions,” said Hong.

The United States seems frustrated at its inability to influence Pakistani policy on militants.

In a meeting with her Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi at the United Nations on Monday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Beijing to open a dialogue with Washington on Pakistan.

“We have stated this before, but there’s clearly an urgency given recent developments and also given the close relationship that exists between Pakistan and China,” a State Department official said in a briefing to reporters.

A senior Pakistani government official called the report speculative but said Islamabad has such strong defence ties with China that no formal pact was needed.

During Meng’s visit, the two sides signed $250 million in economic and technical agreements, Zardari’s office said.

China is a major supplier of military hardware to Pakistan and also a major investor in areas such as telecommunications, ports and infrastructure.

8million Yuan? About 1.25million USD? Seems like the friend we were relying on himself needs some aid. On the other side, we will be back at the door step of USA very soon, as our military is addicted to inflated budgets, perks and privileges, which China is never going to feed.Recommend

Shows our state of mind that a newspaper feels the need to announce this as a major headline. The moral and intellectual bankcruptcy of our leaders is shown by the cliched statements they are usig regarding Chinese support. China will not endanger their interests for our sake.Recommend

Those who have commented above me … Are you guys for real?
Even if they have given us 1 paisa you guys should thank them for giving you free alms .. You guys acting exactly like street beggars who refuse to take less than 10 Rs now a days. Although, I am in no favor of this kind of “aid”(or if I may call it Aids) from any one.
China has invested in mega projects across Pakistan instead of giving aid which is better for employment.
Although I am not criticizing US for giving us aid as its our fault to take it or ask for it, we should be thankful to them for their good gesture .. If we really want to revive our economy we should talk about trade only … India’s economy gets many times more boost from these same countries but that never get bashing because that is the right way of doing it .. Majority of companies from West and US have call centers there which provides not only employment to the poor directly but also makes their economy stronger even though its hurting economies of Western countries and US by creating unemployment in their own country.

This is truly laughable. How is this a headline? Our group of physicians has donated more back home in the last 3 years than China is giving. What a joke. China is not an all-weather friend. We should stand on our own feet. We should rid Pakistan of the terrorists, clean up corruption, widen the tax base, improve education, build infrastructure, and reduce sectarian violence to make Pakistan a place where all can succeed.

Can we please learn from our Bangladeshi brothers of how to run a country by being friendly with people rather than poking our noses in everyone else’s business and then letting our own backyard be overrun by terrorists?Recommend

The budget of the bollywood movie “China Gate”, released in 1998 was around 26 Million Yuan (CNY), more than thrice the amount.

What Pakistan needs is correct priorities. Imagine how much money the diplomats are spending flying here and there trying to defuse the current crisis. If the Haqqanis are not in Pakistan, allow US to provide information and intelligence so that Pakistan comes out blameless. Instead, there is constant harping about Chinese friendship and how US is in decline! Prioritizing military of education and trade never helps!

Dear all,
It is not amount of money that matters. It is gesture that counts. China rushed to reassure you in the wake of US threat without wasting a minute. They gave a shut up call following OBL incident and now again they were here to alleviate your isolation. It is also natural that they would like you to play safe and abandon your old habits and culture. Stability and peace in Afghanistan and withdrawal of foreign forces from its soil is, in fact, in everybody’s real interest. Same is true if we are helpful curbing export of extremism in whatever garb in China and other near or distant neighbors.

@Imran: Great comments! Thanks a lot.
During the 8 years of Mush/Bush partnership the US gave $15 Billions to Pakistan. How could that go to politicians? I agree with Imran that the Chinese are not going to finance the lifestyle of Pakistani generals. Chinese are not fool and know how to “help” Pakistan with their surplus goods and not cold hard cash. Hats off to China for treating Pakistan fairly and on actual need basis. Recommend

@Khan and others: those of you, who believe that China is investing in mega projects, think twice.
1. They give us loans, which we will have to pay back. They hardly give free aid..
2. They make it compulsary to give the contract to chinese companies ONLY
3. They make it mandatory to purchase ALL equipments from chinese companies
4. The top management of all these projects are CHINESE who are in decision making and controlling position
5. They import more than 50% of labor from China… to boost employment in china.
6. Finally, they take back a substantial share of the profit back to their country.

Over a period of times, they govern, direct most of the key assets. They export the resources to china, do value addition in their factories, and sell you back the finished product making 5 times profit. Its a modern day east india company, working on its client states like burma, north korea, pakistan and poor african nations..

“Can we please learn from our Bangladeshi brothers of how to run a country by being friendly with people rather than poking our noses in everyone else’s business and then letting our own backyard be overrun by terrorists?”

That is very thought-provoking. Pakistan should take a hard look at Bangladesh and its relationship with its neighbors. Has India invaded and annexed Bangladesh yet? Does Bangladesh have a huge military with all the new military toys or nukes like Pakistan? Is Bangladesh spending a huge portion (over 12%) of its GDP and over 50% of its national budget (counting military pensions, perks and interest on debt accumulated for military purchase) on maintaining a huge army to counter India? Bangladesh is well on its way to building a progressive, tolerant and secular society that is at peace with its neighbors.

Yes, indeed, Pakistan has a lot to learn from Bangladesh.

On the Chinese pittance, Pakistanis should be insulted at the $1.2M alms. Recommend

OMG, such a huge amount, from all weather friend, how we are going to spend this treasure. We need to hire Goldman Sachs, Morgan Strangely and couple of other big investment firms to tell us how to spend this. Recommend

@ali:
China supports drone attacks. It’s killing the radicals whom they hate. Not one of you has mentioned their treatment of Muslims in their country. As long as they support us they can kill as many Muslims as they want in China. We won’t utter a word. So much for our religiosity.

@fahim:
1) Why exactly you are expecting them to give us free aid ? are we beggars ?
2-4,6) We accept terms and condition willingly no one is holding gun at our heads while signing MoUs, besides you will end up using their machinery as they are cheaper.

5) If China invested in our projects and gave us loan they have to take some profit from it too .. its common sense .. So if I believe your words .. that investment in project does create 50% employment for poor labors of Pakistanis too .. which is a good thing … at least better than getting alms where all aid goes to rich politicians and bureaucrat’s pockets.
I didn’t get your answer clearly are you trying to say .. its better to take aid which goes to politician’s pockets than this kind of scenario?.
I have a credit card loan from past many years and have always been paying it on time … in recession they jacked up my interest rates twice and now I am paying double the interest I used to pay few years back .. But am I suppose to curse the lender or my self? clearly it was my decision to use it .. lender gave me a favor with terms and conditions, of which I was well aware of before accepting it. Don’t like it then don’t take it. Period.

@Imran Khan:
@Yasir Mehmood:
and the rest who think that the only thing that matters in the world is USD.
It is the decency of Chinese to have come over and showed their support to such a non-dependable and untrustworthy country like Pakistan.
Getting the statement out of Clinton is the more important thing than what has been thrown in the beggars bowl.
Pakistan is facing a situation of life and death. Our number is up, being labelled one of the two countries in the world harboring terrorism ( which is not really wrong anyway), we should be digging bunkers under our houses for only Allah knows if this situation that we are in is a fitna or Azab, for our people, politicians and great ullemas of religion do not have a clue and are unable to fathom the reason ( apparently)Recommend